Indian regions that began hiring un-qualified teachers did the right thing without any doubt. They had to live in the real world and make do with what they had. Their choice was to follow the (dead and stinky) letter of the law or provide teachers for students. Even a half brain-dead slug knows the answer to this one. Yet, somehow, university professors and government apparatchiks and reporters do not seem to get it. Well, there is a joke somewhere in here but we won't make it because comparing brain powers with half brain-dead slugs is…well…demeaning… as well as fun. But demeaning first.

Yet, this is exactly what would happen in a free market. Markets are interested in people capable of doing the job first. If in addition to this capability they have extra skills, then the better. And so in a free market all those non-qualified teachers would be hired. If other teachers choose to pursue voluntary qualification, then they would probably command higher salaries. But capability comes first and it is second to nothing.

CERTIFIERS-R-US

In every country around the world there are organizations that certify one profession or another. In almost all cases said organizations either belong to the state (with their load of apparatchiks) or an association of "professionals" who have been given the legal right to impose power of veto on certain professions even if the candidate is capable of executing his or her profession. And so we end up with Certifications, Qualifications, Bars, Colleagues, Ministries, Departments, Divisions, Licensing Bodies, and so on; every one of them capable of making your long years of study and practice worthless.

And the question is why? Why indeed?

All these organizations impose some sort of mini-curriculum and one or more exams…after you received your title. Which invariably leads to the following conclusion. Either the Colleague or University or School you attended are incompetent because they did not teach you what you need to know (unlikely) or the mini-curriculum is bogus. Well, we will let Occam's Razor be our guide. Yes, in all likelihood the latter is indeed the case.

Which again leads us invariably to the conclusion that the value added that all those certification processes add is near-zero.

Look, this is simple. When you go see a doctor, what are you more concerned about? Whether the doctor has a license to be a doctor framed on the wall or whether the doctor is capable of curing you? Because deep, deep down you know that chances are excellent that whether this person has a license has very little or no impact when it comes to cure you. Skill and experience counts. License, almost nothing.

In a free market independent certification organizations would exist in the same manner as they do today. But none of those organizations would claim to provide a permit to exercise a profession. All they would claim is that they enhance the skills and knowledge of professionals by demanding higher standards should a person wishes to join the organization. There is no stigma or punishment should a professional chooses not to join.

THE SCAM

Official certification processes all around the world are scams. This is so because they infringe in our right to use our property (i.e. our body which includes our mind) as we see fit. They also infringe in our most basic right to contract with our property (i.e. our body and mind) as we see fit. All these legal organizations are created by governments, which are invalid themselves because Social Contracts Are A Scam.

It is true that in a very minor number of conditions and circumstances certification may actually enhance the safety and/or performance of professionals. However, we cannot look at this benefit in isolation. We need to look at the big picture. Anything and everything we do involves a risk/reward calculation. We cannot simply look at the reward and conclude that the process leading to it is OK if we do not understand the risk.

In a free market the most important idea is "buyer beware". As such, providing information to classify the quality or performance of goods and services is yet another product. As such, the review of qualification of professionals becomes second nature. Through this information we fully understand the risk we are taking by attending one professional or another. We do this without the requirement for certifications. In a managed market on the other hand, there are no such services because most people believe that all certified professionals are equally qualified. There is no market for a review or ranking of qualifications. There is no concept of risk because through this magic certification process the government "assures us" that every certified professional is OK (and/or the best).

And so in a free market we can make a risk/reward calculation but we cannot do so in a managed market.

It is precisely because this certification game is imposed on us in managed markets that it is a scam, because it prevents the free market from developing useful tools to measure risk adequately. And so in managed markets we are forced to take certifications at face value without any idea of the risks involved.

THE HIGH COSTS OF CERTIFICATIONS

Certifications have yet another set of problems. The first one is that they are expensive. They consume vast amounts of time and money, time and money that professionals may be spending solving our problems. But it gets worse. It so happens that many of these statutory certification organizations (whether governmental or private) are populated with professionals in the relevant area, professionals who have vested interests in preventing competition. The oldest way to do so is by rising the entry barrier to the market. And how do they do this? Through the increase of certification requirements. Have you noticed how over the last few decades certification requirements have been going up and up and up? Do you think this is a coincidence? Do you think that Colleagues and Universities and Schools are suddenly teaching less and less? Of course not! All those extra "requirements" are purely arbitrary.

But it gets even worse. Many professionals have come to realize that being at the head of one such organization can be very profitable because, invariably, this organization gets to charge ridiculous fees and/or receive subsides from the state. Hence, all kinds of statutory organizations have begun to pop-up out of nowhere like mushrooms after the rain. Why? Because artificial monopolies are always good business. There is no other reason.

We still remember one of the most idiotic certification efforts ever attempted: the so-called Driver Licence for MS Office Applications. That's right. Some genius in EU attempted to make such a ridiculous certification mandatory for all office jobs in EU. Under this idea you would actually had to be certified in all Microsoft Office applications before you could be considered for a job. Sounds ridiculous? No more than any other certification. It is all arbitrary. It is all a scam because it provides little to no benefits yet the price is astronomical.

THE ORIGIN

The origin of the concept of certification or "licensing" comes from the early universities which were making a fortune. A University title en-titled you (get it?) to work as a professional in your field. Literally, a university title ensured you wealth. Yet, politicians could not stand watching all that money pass them by. And so they created the "License". As a license adds nothing to a title, they had to come up with a different explanation. The explanation was that a "Licence" allowed you to perform acts which would otherwise be prohibited by law. For example, if you were a doctor you would be breaking the law if you operated on your patient. However, under a License, you could not be prosecuted.

The clever person may have noticed the circular justification of it all.

Government makes arbitrary law.

University grants title.

Professional person cannot exercise title because it is against the law.

Government grants license (for a price) not to be prosecuted by the law.

Ridiculous, right? Yet, this is exactly what happened. It is a scam. A protection racket. All of this is, obviously, unnecessary. In a free market the only valid understanding is the contractual agreement between a customer and a professional. If such agreement involves an operation then it is absolutely clear that a patient gave a surgeon permission to modify patient's property (i.e. his/her body). No laws or licenses required.

CONCLUSION

This issue of teacher qualification in India is nothing but a small example of a world-wide and wide-spread problem. The certification game is a scam from which all governments partake. Money for nothing and nothing for free! This is all unnecessary not only because all governments are invalid, but because certification processes typically add nothing of value to the customer. We pay, pay, pay and then pay some more and when we are done paying, our service provider continues to pay for us, payment that will then be added to the price we pay. And then we pay some more. And what do we get in return? Nothing. Governments simply do so because they can.

But there are people out there who do not get it. They believe that this system of certificates and qualifications and permits and licenses makes them are sooooo much safer. Fair enough. Just one thing. When garbage collection triples in cost because garbage collectors need to be "certified" don't call us. We will be busy dumping our garbage in our back yard.

Note: please see the Glossary if you are unfamiliar with certain words.